§ 11. Sir Peter BlakerTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many children will benefit from the October uprating of child benefit.
§ Mr. JackChild benefit is paid for about 12.3 million children. My right hon. Friend may be interested to know that 1.5 million of them are in the north-west and 300,000 in Lancashire. Every one of them will gain from the October increases.
§ Sir Peter BlakerWill my hon. Friend confirm that, by the time of the increase next April, child benefit will have increased no fewer than three times in the space of 12 months? Will he also transmit to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State my congratulations on his decision to locate 550 extra jobs in the Blackpool, Fylde and Preston area? That is extremely welcome and those jobs will be well performed.
§ Mr. JackI congratulate my right hon. Friend on the tenacity with which he has put the case for his constituents regarding the location of jobs in our constituencies. I am sure that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State noted my hon. Friend's remarks. The three upratings have cost £1 billion and our record is in stark contrast to that of the Labour Government, who cut benefits to families with children by 7 per cent. in real terms.
§ Mr. EasthamThe Minister and the Government may take all the glory for the recent increases, but if things are so good, why did the Government refuse for several years to uprate child benefit when they knew that the same needs as now existed?
§ Mr. JackThe hon. Gentleman may not have noticed that since the social security system changed in the 1987–88 financial year we have managed to increase in real terms the benefits up to April 1992—in addition to all the other expenditure—for low-income families by £600 million. We must balance how we use our resources and, by doing so, we have been able to help such families.